Conventional connectors are typically limited to a specific match of corresponding pin and housing sizes. In other words, a prior art connector is typically designed for a mating or matching pair of housing and pin. A set gap is typically found between such pin and housing. A spring contact may be located in a housing to establish connection between the pin and housing, such as to bridge the set gap. Conventionally, a spring contact connector requires a set gap between the pin and the housing that is appropriately sized to receive a spring contact therein so that the spring contact can operate within its designed deflection range or operating range.
In certain applications, there may be a desire to use a pin having a size that is not considered mating, matching or corresponding to the housing intended for connection. Typically, if a relatively smaller pin is to be connected to the housing having less than an optimal pin size, the set gap between the housing and the relatively smaller pin increases proportionally and may result in the need for a larger spring contact to be used to make up or bridge the gap.
However, there may be limitations when the set gap is larger than what a contact spring can provide. For example, the housing may not have a proper retaining groove large or deep enough to adequately secure or stably retain a conventional spring contact, such as a canted coil spring, needed to take up the larger than normal set gap. There may be further limitations in which a conventional spring contact, such as a canted coil spring, can no longer achieve contact with the pin due to a large increase in said gap. In other words, the larger than normal set gap can force the spring to operate outside of its operating deflection range and therefore cannot exert the appropriate spring force.